Childbirth In Your Life and Around the World

My Personal Childbirth Story 

This week’s blog assignment allows us the opportunity to share a personal birth experience.  In particular, I would like to share about the birth experience of my first grand baby.  This was a life changing event that has changed the way I view and appreciate and value child birth. 

On November 18, 2011, my first grand daughter was to be born to my oldest daughter, Corinne.  On the morning of, my daughter was scheduled to see her OB/GYN doctor to see if she had dilated any. Come to find out that she was having mild contractions and was actually almost a week or so overdue. Her doctor had already scheduled her for an upcoming C-section which was planned for the upcoming Monday.  On this particular morning, after being seen by the physician it was decided that she would be kept in the hospital and monitored.  Her blood pressure was high and her legs were actually swollen.  The doctor decided that they would help her delivery along and decided to induce her labor. This went on for the most part of the day. I arrived at the hospital around 4’oclock that afternoon and was excited about the coming of my grandbaby.  During this time, my daughter’s contractions were coming and my daughter was in and out of sleep.  However, the baby’s heart rate began to fade in and out and the nurse said it was due to the contractions and that they would lay my daughter on her other side to reposition the baby.  My motherly instincts kicked in and things did not feel or seem right after a while.  This birth took forever and took a turn for the worst.  The doctor finally came to do her examination of my daughter’s cervix and decided that it was now time for her to deliver after many hours had gone by. By this time my daughter had become exhausted and had already dilated to 10 cm.  During her delivery the baby had a hard time coming through the birth canal. My daughter kept pushing and pushing but the baby would not come. The doctor finally realized that my grandbaby was under distress and the baby experienced a teratogen which caused a condition called bradycardia. As a result, anoxia took place causing for my grandbaby to experience a traumatic birth experience.  She was life-flighted to Vanderbilt Children’s hospital where she spent the next 5 weeks in the neo-natal unit . The doctor had to do a procedure called cooling of the brain. Her brain had become swollen due to the loss of oxygen.  Unfortunately, because of this experience and the doctor’s negligence my grand baby has cerebral palsy and other serious health issues.  In spite of this family mishap, my Khloe is a beautiful gift from God. She has been and still brings our family joy and appreciation for life. This is why my passion for special need children is in my heart.

I chose to share this particular birth experience with my colleagues because this was a birth experience that I will always cherish and remember.  Child birth is a beautiful and important aspect of child development from the prenatal stages through delivery and beyond to the growing stages of a child. Whether we realize it or not, when a woman carries and delivers a child they are at risk for complications. Although millions of babies are born healthy everyday there is always that fifty-fifty chance of child birth going wrong because of a teratogen.  After reading Berger’s examples and reading her share information on child development it has helped me to put things in perspective.

International Birth Experience (Germany)

On another note, we were asked to write about a region of the world other than the U.S. and describe their birth experience.  I actually chose to read about and share about the birth experience of German culture. I chose Germany because I actually lived there for quite a few years and had my first child back in 1988 in Fulda, Germany at the Krakenhaus which is the German word for hospital.  Some of the things that I have learned and can recall is that after the birth of having a baby naturally, the hospital stay is 5 to 7 days. If a patient had a baby by C-section the stay is 7 to 12 days depending upon the recovery.  My hospital stay was actually 5 days and if it had not been for my mother visiting my stay would have been much longer.  There were no private rooms as there was at least three people in a room, if not more.  Depending upon the physician you choose, if they have a private practice or work in the hospital, patients have a mid-wife that delivers the baby. My experience was different because I had blood pressure issues; therefore, an assigned physician delivered my baby. The birth of my baby by C-section was scary. After my baby was born my daughter was wrapped in some type of aluminum wrapping to keep her warm. My husband was petrified after the doctor brought him our daughter like this. Sonograms of the baby are done more frequently in Germany than that of the U.S.  I had about five of them at the time. All prescribed medicines are prescribed from the pharmacy/pharmacists. Unlike the U.S.,  our physicians prescribed our meds.  Germans also focus more on holistic and natural remedies.  When I had my baby years ago this was where I was first introduced to herbal teas. Peppermint tea and chamomile was given to help with my blood pressure. I actually enjoyed my birth experience in Germany. They also focused more on natural baby foods for their children.  In the U.S., we are now seeing the trends that they have been practicing for years.  One other thing is that Germans will have no more than two to three children.  This is the culture that they practice.  My birthing experience had it’s pros and cons. One con was that I was not familiar with the German language and found that It made me uneasy when I was being examined by some that did not speak English.  However, my physician spoke English very well but it wasn’t guaranteed that I would see him.  In comparison to my mentioned birth experience, I found that the doctors were very thorough in my health. As a precaution, I was always kept in the hospital a few days after my visit because of my blood pressure.  Had the doctor’s been proactive in my daughter’s birth my grand baby would not be in the predicament that she is in.